Professor Maggie Cusack:

Professor Cunnane threw me the baton by way of funding. No system ever considers that it has sufficient funding. It would be important to have strength in a mixed portfolio of funding. Much of the conversation about funding relates to funding for undergraduates. We have spoken about the challenges for the step change in research. It is important that we work with colleagues, support them and help them to build the scale of the research projects we are leading and for that to become a significant part of our income, as well as the work we do with industry. There is strength in that mixed portfolio as well as benefits for our students in terms of employability.

We have spoken about the climate and the economy. They are often presented as enemies that go head to head. There is an opportunity for us to overturn that notion and, as we address the major climate challenge, ask how we do that in a way that upskills our learners and ensures that they contributing to the economy. That is the challenge for us all.

Professor Cunnane is right, in that we should not waste a good crisis or pandemic. Learning is ongoing. I have been amazed by the challenges that people have faced and what they have been able to do. There has generally been a great deal of positive feedback from our students about how online learning is better for some because, for example, it suits them to go back to asynchronous learning, listen to something again and think about what happened. Professor Cunnane is right about that sense of connection and community that we have worked hard to maintain when we are working virtually. We can come to a point where we will benefit from the best of both and make good use of the space, which was a topic that Professor Cunnane also raised.